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Ar-Ram

Place: A-Ram
Observers: Roni Hammermann, Tamar Fleishman; Translator: Charles K.
Jun-08-2014
| Afternoon

 

“Don’t photograph me,” the captain yelled.

 

But he must be photographed, the captain, the soldiers he commanded and everyone who participated in the collective punishment of the town of A-Ram and tens of thousands of its residents who found themselves under siege in retaliation for stones thrown by children.

 

Not only do we have to take photographs – we are obligated to do so.

 

Because if someone doesn’t report a crime they are complicit by their silence, and whoever violates international law that prohibits collective punishment must stand trial.

 

And if they’re not tried in Israel, they and those like them must be brought before the court in The Hague.

 

Because they who take over an entire town for hours, terrorize its streets, stand at intersections with weapons drawn, cut off neighborhoods, block entrances and exits for an unlimited period of time, prevent people from returning home, cause thousands of innocent citizens to incarcerate themselves in their houses, their shutters closed, their doors locked for fear of the armed invader can’t defend themselves by claiming “I only followed orders.”

 

They who have the guns, they who control people’s lives, they who’ve received permission to shoot and to kill – they must also accept responsibility for their actions.

  • A-Ram

    See all reports for this place
    • two kilometers south of Qalandiya and 300 metres north of Neve Yaacov Junction, in Dahiyat el-Barid Quarter. Checkpoint has operated since 1991, in a Palestinian area annexed to Jerusalem in 1967. The checkpoint has been inactive since the middle of 2009.

      The wall was built on the road that led to Jerusalem. Since then the situation in the town has deteriorated. Houses are abandoned and half finished, most of the businesses have closed. Severe neglect around the fence and on the streets. Those who could left. Updated January 2024

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